There are web based systems that provide “gamification” of fitness and athletic activities through websites by comparing sensor data (GPS, power, heart rate) of a user against past performances and performances of their peers and presenting the resulting comparisons on the websites. These comparisons typically rely on specifically pre-designated GPS defined sections of streets or roads. By using pre-defined routes, these prior web based systems can track individuals and groups and comparing performances of different individuals on the same pre-defined route.
As an example, a website may provide activity segments, which can be a loop, sprints, descents, or time trials. For each of these defined segments, users are compared on the fastest time, and can be broken down by further categories (age, gender, etc.) on each specific segment. Although these segments are said to be “categorized”, the categorizations are not used to make quantitative comparisons of users, including quantitative comparisons of users across multiple segments. As another example, a website may provide the ability for direct visual comparison on particular segments, but it must receive compiled data from other source(s). As yet another example, a website may provide loops and climbs, but they are entirely user created, and use a similar leaderboard (compared by speed or overall time). Accordingly, there is room for innovations and improvements in ranking performances of outdoor activities.